anything will be a tax cut and the reason that's important is apparently this grover norquist pledge has kept republicans consistently from being able to say we will put these -- this revenue issue on the table. it changes the dynamic of that. do i want to see it happen? no. i think we can resolve it before then. but if they insist on protecting the top 2% of participating in this challenge, that's where they're going to find themselves. >> senator, i have to ask this question because "the washington post" has fairly strongly worded editorial talking about democrats and how they're handling the question of entitlement reform which has been part of this discussion. the president has been focused more on the bush tax cuts piece. i will read an excerpt which says since his re-election mr. obama has fueled a campaign style effort to pressure republicans to give ground on taxes. that's fine, but it won't be enough. at some point, he has to prepare the american people and his own supporters most of all for the hard decisions required to put the country on a sound financial footing. that me